SELECTED NUTRITIONAL AND MANAGEMENT FACTORS FOR IMPROVING PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY OF GUINEA FOWL

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: EVANS-ALLEN
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0198954
• Project Start Date: Jan 1, 2004
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2006
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
3500 JOHN A. MERRITT BLVD
NASHVILLE,TN 37209

Performing Department
AGRI SCIENCES

Non Technical Summary
The potential for guinea fowl as alternative poultry is promising. However, very limited nutritional and management research work has been done on this avian specie. Adequate nutrition and proper management practices are a requisite for making the guinea fowl production enterprise competitive and profitable. The primary objective of the proposed research is to evaluate nutritional and management practices to improve production efficiency of the guinea fowl.

Animal Health Component

100%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
307	3299	1060	100%

Knowledge Area
307 - Animal Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
3299 - Poultry, general/other;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems);

Keywords

egg production

carcass traits

crude protein

metabolizable energy

guinea fowl

poultry

production efficiency

poultry production

performance evaluation

broilers

animal nutrition

pullets

layers

feed conversion

carcass quality

poultry houses

Goals / Objectives
1) To determine optimal dietary protein and metabolizable energy levels for French guinea broilers; 2) To determine optimal dietary crude protein and metabolizable energy levels for pearl guinea layers; 3)To determine optimal dietary crude protein and metabolizable energy levels for pearl guinea replacement pollets; 4) To assess the effect of cage space allowance on laying performance of pearl guinea hens, and 5) To assess the effect of litter floor space allowance for pearl guinea replacement pullets on their subsequent laying performance.

Project Methods
Objective 1: In two experiments, 297 day-old French guinea keets will be randomly assigned to nine dietary treatments comprising 21, 23, and 25% crude protein (CP) each containing 3050, 3100 and 3150 kcal metabolizable energy (ME)/kg. The diets will be fed at 0-4 weeks of age (WOA). Diets comprising 19, 21 and 23% CP each containing 3100, 3150 and 3200 kcal ME/kg will be fed at 5-8 WOA. Birds will be housed in batteries (150 and 600 sq cm/bird at 0-4 and 5-8 WOA, respectively). They will receive feed and water at free choice and 21 hours light/day. Body weight (BW), feed consumption (FC) and feed conversion ratios (FCR) will be measured weekly. At eight WOA, six representative birds from each treatment group will be sacrificed to determine processing yield. Objective 2: In a 3 x 3 factorial arrangement, 270 pearl grey guinea pullets (22 week-old) will be randomly assigned to nine dietary treatments. Three dietary CP levels of 17, 19, and 21% each containing 2900, 3000 and 3100 kcal ME/kg will be fed from 22 to 46 WOA. Experimental birds will be housed in laying wire cages (697 sq cm/bird). All birds will receive feed and water at free choice and 16 hours light/day. Egg production (EP) will be monitored daily. At the end of each of four 28-day periods, hen-day and hen-housed EP, FC, FCR, egg weight (EW), egg mass (EM), internal egg quality (IEQ), egg specific gravity (ESG) and shell thickness (ST) will be determined. Objective 3: In a 3 x 3 factorial arrangement, 540 day-old pearl grey guinea keets will be assigned to nine dietary treatments comprising 2900, 3000 and 3100 kcal ME/kg from 0 to 52 WOA. The dietary ME levels will be provided in combination with three dietary crude protein levels adjusted proportionately with age of birds as follows: 0-4 weeks (21, 23 and 25% CP), 5-9 weeks (18, 20 and 22% CP), 10-15 weeks (15, 17, and 19% CP), 16-22 weeks (12, 14, and 16% CP), and 23 to 52 WOA (17, 19 and 21% CP). At 0-4, 5-22 and 23-52 WOA, birds will be provided with 150, 400 and 697 sq cm/bird floor space and 22, 12 and 16 hour of light/day, respectively. Birds will receive feed and water at free choice. Biweekly BWG, FC and FCR will be recorded from hatch to 22 WOA. Objective 4: One hundred and twenty Pearl grey guinea hens will be randomly assigned to laying cages with space allowance of 1394, 697 and 465 sq cm/bird. Birds will be monitored for egg production at 28-44 and 80-96 WOA. Birds will receive a lighting program of 16 hours/day and free choice of feed and water. Objective 5: Two hyndred fourty day-old Pearl grey guinea keets will be completely randomized onto floor pens measuring 465, 697 and 1394 cm2/bird. Birds will receive 22 and 12 hours of light/day at 0-4 WOA and at 5-22 WOA, respectively. At 22 WOA birds will be assigned laying cages (697 sq cm/bird) and will receive 16 hours of light/day for six 28-day periods. A feeding program will be developed from findings of objectives 2 and 3. Feed and water will be provided at free choice. Biweekly BWG, FC and FCR will be noted during the growing period. For each 28-day period of objectives 2-5, FC, EP, FCR, EW, EM, IEQ, ESG and ST will be determined.

Progress 01/01/04 to 09/30/06

Outputs
Poor egg production in guinea fowl is the primary cause of premium prices of day old keets that must be raised to meet the increasing demand for guinea meat. There is therefore great need to improve production performance of the guinea fowl. Growing and developing a good pullet is one of the most important items in ensuring success in an egg production enterprise. The quality of the bird at the onset of her production cycle will greatly determine how profitable she will be during the period of lay. Special emphasis must therefore be placed on feeding the growing bird so that she may develop into a healthy productive individual and one that can fulfill her genetic potential. The objectives of this study were to (1) evaluate optimum concentrations of dietary metabolizable energy (ME) and crude protein (CP) and floor space at hatch to 16 weeks of age (WOA) for optimum egg production of the Pearl Grey guinea fowl pullets, and (2) evaluate optimum dietary concentrations of ME and CP for egg production performance of the pearl grey guinea fowl laying hens. Birds were raised under standard rearing techniques on floor pens with floor space allowance of 697 cm2/bird, which was determined to be optimum for the Pearl Grey guinea fowl. Experimental birds were observed for feed consumption (FC), age at first egg (AFE), hen-day egg production (HDEP), egg weight (EW), and egg mass (EM), feed conversion ratio (FCR), internal egg quality (IEQ), shell thickness (ST) and body weight (BW). Feeding 3,000-3,100 Kcal of ME/kg of diet and 22-24% CP at 0-8 WOA and 3,100-3,200 Kcal of ME/kg of diet and 19-21% CP at 9-16 WOA improved HDEP, EM, IEQ and FCR of Pearl Grey guinea fowl laying pullets at 28-56 WOA. Also, diets comprising 2,800 Kcal of ME/kg of diet and 14% CP which were fed during the egg laying period were utilized more efficiently by the Pearl Grey guinea fowl laying hens at 26-86 WOA.

Impacts
Optimum requirement for cage and floor space, and metabolizable energy and crude protein for replacement pullets and laying guinea fowl hens were published in the journal of Poultry Science. These requirements were also recommended to the guinea fowl producers for use in formulating least cost rations.

Publications

• Nahashon, S. N., Adefope, N., Amenyenu, A. and Wright, D. 2006. Effect of Varying Metabolizable Energy and Crude Protein Concentrations in Diets of Pearl Grey Guinea Fowl Pullets: 1. Growth Performance. Poultry Science 85:1847-1854.
• Nahashon, S. N., Adefope, A., Amenyenu, A. and Wright, D. 2006. Laying Performance of Pearl Grey Guinea Fowl Hens as Affected by Caging Density. Poultry Science 85:1682-1689.
• Nahashon, S. N., Aggrey, S. E., Adefope, N., Amenyenu, A. and Wright, D. 2006. Modeling growth characteristics of meat type guinea fowl. Poultry Science 85:943-946.
• Nahashon, S. N., Adefope, N., Amenyenu, A. and Wright, D. 2006. Production performance of pearl grey guinea fowl pullets fed diets with varying concentrations of dietary metabolizable energy and crude protein. Poultry Science 85 (Supplement 1):68.
• Nahashon, S. N., Adefope, N., Amenyenu, A and Wright, D. 2006. Effect of varying concentrations of protein and metabolizable energy on laying performance of pearl grey guinea fowl hens. Poultry Science 85(Supplement 1):108-109.
• Nahashon, S. N., Adefope, N, Amenyenu, A. and Wright, D. 2006. Growth performance of Pearl Grey guinea fowl pullets fed diets varying in metabolizable energy and crude protein concentrations. Poultry Science 85 (Supplement 1):201.
• Nahashon, S. N., Aggrey, S. E., Adefope, N., Amenyenu, A. and Wright, D. 2006. Modeling growth characteristics of meat-type guinea fowl. Association of Research Directors Conference Abstracts pp306.

Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05

Outputs
In the United States, interest in raising guinea fowl as a meat bird has increased in the last few years. However, poor production and reproduction efficiency have been a potential constraint to bird productivity and profitability. The objectives were to evaluate growth pattern and the optimum crude protein and metabolizable energy for growth and production of Pearl grey guinea fowl replacement pullets. Using BW data from 0-22 weeks, three nonlinear mathematical (NLM) functions (Richards, Gompertz and logistic) were employed to estimate the growth patterns. The shape parameter m was 1.08 and 0.98 in males and females, respectively, suggesting that the growth pattern of the pearl gray guinea fowl is Gompertz. The pearl gray guinea fowl exhibited sexual dimorphism for their growth characteristics. From the Gompertz model, the asymptotic BW, growth rate and age at maximum growth were 1.62 kg, 0.22 kg/week and 6.65 weeks in males, respectively and 1.70 kg, 0.19 kg/week and 6.70 weeks in females, respectively. The observed inverse relationship between the asymptotic weight and both relative growth and age at maximum growth of the pearl gray guinea fowl is similar to that of chickens, quail and ducks. To assess dietary metabolizable energy (ME) and crude protein (CP) concentrations for optimum growth performance of the Pearl Grey guinea fowl pullets, 540 1-day-old Pearl Grey guinea keets were randomly assigned to experimental diets with 2,900, 3,000 and 3,100 kcal of ME/kg of diet; each containing 20, 22 and 24% CP, respectively, from 0-8 weeks of age (WOA). From 9-16 WOA, these diets were adjusted to contain 3,000, 3,100 and 3,200 kcal of ME/kg of diet, and each had 17, 19 and 21% CP, respectively. Overall, diets comprising 3,000 and 3,100 Kcal of ME/kg of diet were utilized more efficiently by the Pearl Grey guinea fowl pullets at 0-5 and 5-16 WOA, respectively. Also, these birds utilized more efficiently diets containing 24 and 17% CP at 0-8 and 9-16 WOA, respectively.

Impacts
Growth patterns of the Pearl Grey guinea fowl along with the optimum dietary metabolizable energy and crude protein concentrations are being utilized in formulating least cost rations for the Pearl Grey guinea fowl. These findings were published in the Journal of Poultry Science and recommended to guinea fowl producers. Rations for the Pearl Grey guinea fowl pullets can now be formulated based on nutrient specifications from this research.

Publications

• Nahashon, S. N., Aggrey, S.E., Adefope, N., Amenyenu, A. and Wright, D. 2006. Growth Characteristics of Pearl Gray Guinea Fowl as Predicted by the Richards, Gompertz and Logistic Models. Poultry Science 85:359-363.
• Nahashon, S. N., Adefope, N., Amenyenu, A. and Wright, D. 2006. Growth and carcass characteristics of French Guinea Broilers fed diets with varying levels of metabolizable energy. Sustainable Agriculture 27(4):25-43.
• Nahashon, S.N., Payne, L., Amenyenu, A., Adefope, N., and Wright, D. 2005. Effects of dietary metabilizable energy and crude protein concentrations on growth Performance of the pearl gray guinea fowl replacement pullet. IAgER Seminar Series. (Online abstract: http://www.tnstate.edu/Iager/ core/seminar_series.htm).

Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04

Outputs
In the United States, interest in raising guinea fowl as a meat bird has increased in the last few years. However, poor production and reproduction efficiency have been a potential constraint to increasing bird productivity and profitability. The objective was to further evaluate the optimum requirement for metabolizable energy and crude protein by the French guinea broiler. In a second trial, three hundred day-old French guinea keets were fed experimental diets comprising 3050, 3100 and 3150 ME kcal/kg diet each in combination with 21, 23 and 25% CP from hatch to four weeks of age (WOA). At 5 to 8 WOA, dietary ME and CP levels were adjusted to 3100, 3150 and 3200 kcal/kg diet and 19, 21 and 23%, respectively. Body weights and feed consumption (FC) were measured weekly while carcass traits were determined at eight WOA. Mean body weight gain (BWG), feed conversion ratios (FCR), carcass and breast weight of birds fed 23% CP diets at 0-4 WOA were better (P<0.05) than those of birds on 21% CP diets.Birds on 3100 ME Kcal/kg diets at 0-4 WOA exhibited higher (P<0.05) BWG, carcass and breast weight and lower (P<0.05) FC and FCR than those on 3050 ME kcal/kg diet. Positive correlations (P<0.01) were noted between live weight and weight of carcass, breast, thigh, drumstick and wing of guinea broilers. Consistent with the first trial, diets comprising 3100 ME Kcal/kg and 23% CP and 3150 ME Kcal/kg and 21% CP at 0-4 and 5-8 WOA, respectively, were utilized more efficiently by French guinea broilers.

Impacts
Optimum concentrations of metabolizable energy and crude protein in guinea fowl rations were published in the Journal of Poultry Science and recommended to guinea fowl producers. Rations for French guinea broilers can now be formulated based on nutrient specifications from this research.

Publications

• Nahashon, S. N., Adefope, N., Amenyenu, A., Paterson-Brooks, I. and Wright, D. 2004. Understanding growth patterns and genomics of the guinea fowl. (online abstract:http://www.tnstate.edu/ Iager/ core/seminar_series.htm).
• Nahashon, S. N., Adefope, N., Amenyenu, A. and Wright, D. 2005. Growth and carcass characteristics of French Guinea Broilers fed diets with varying levels of metabolizable energy. Sustainable Agriculture (In Press)
• Nahashon, S. N., Adefope, N., Amenyenu, A. and Wright, D. 2005. Effect of Dietary Metabolizable Energy and Crude Protein levels on growth and carcass characteristics of French guinea broilers. Poultry Science 84:337-344.
• Nahashon, S. N., Aggrey, S.E., Adefope, N. and Amenyenu, A. 2004. Growth characteristics of pearl grey guinea fowl as predicted by Richards Gompertz and Logistic models. Poultry Science 83(10):1798.
• Nahashon, S. N., Adefope, N., Amenyenu, A. and Wright, D. 2004. Assessment of awareness and constraints in production of guinea fowl in Tennessee and other parts of the United States. Southern Animal Science, page 7.
• Nahashon, S. N., Amenyenu, A., Adefope, A. and Wright, D.. 2004. Evaluation of chicken microsatellite primers for possible utility as genetic linkage markers for guinea fowl. Tennessee State University, 26th Annual Research Symposium, P15.